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Sunday, January 23, 2011

Cherry Tree block 16 and all those circles!

Anyone following the Beyond the Cherry Tree BOM from Sentimental Stitches, will know that block 16 has about 120 circles! All in one month - that is lots of work. I started mine by ignoring the circles, but I thought I would plan to do a few each day.

this is how the block was looking yesterday - leaves in place, and some vines

If you look close you can see where I put a pencil dot where each circle should go. I said "should" as I do not expect to make my circles just the same as the original. Mostly I do back-basting applique, but for the circles and embroidery, I have marked the front of the work.

I roughly cut out around the shape of the circles, leaving more than 1/4", do a running stitch and draw up the fabric around the circle. I have chosen about 3 different sizes, in the 1/2" to 3/4" range. I am now using the Karen Kay Buckley Scissors which are great for applique. They are short and pointed, cut all the way to the end of the point, and are slightly serrated, which means less fraying.

Press the circles. I let them set a minute or so before taking out the circles

Take out the circles and gently pull back the threads to form circles again. You can use spray starch at the stage if you fabric is a bit bouncy.

Beautiful perfect circles ready to applique. I say Perfect, but I am not really a "perfect" kind of person - more of a "make do" person. In the whole scheme of the things, perfect is not worth the effort.

So this is what the block looked like when I went to bed last night. I did 2 sets of circles, with 3 different fabrics. If I can do that each night, and a bit more of the vines, I should have it done by the time the next block is out.